Birth Care Pricing

Midwifery Care is $2300 with a $200 discount if you are self-pay or your insurance doesn’t cover my services. This fee covers prenatal care, birth care, birth supplies, use of a tub if desired, newborn exam, newborn metabolic testing, newborn hearing screening and postpartum care. If you transfer care or are transferred during labor a pro-rated portion will be refunded.

(Unfortunately those due in/after 2016 will see a $200 price increase. This will mean a total price of $2300 for those that pay by 6 weeks after their birth, which is still significantly less than other midwives charge. )

It does not cover labs, ultrasounds or Rhogam. I try to be a good steward with your money if you don’t have health insurance and can generally do all the basic prenatal lab work for $20-$50.

If you choose to birth at the Great Expectations birth suite there is a $750 “facility fee” in addition to the midwifery care charge. If you saw a doctor for your birth you would have a separate fee for your doctor care in addition to a hospital charge…and probably a nursery charge, and epidural charge, and anesthesiologist and pediatrician charge and pharmacy charge.

None of the insurance companies will currently pay for the Great Expectations “facility fee” although all flexible spending accounts have covered this so far.

Unfortunately, Utah Medicaid does not cover either home or birth suite births, so I’m sorry but I cannot accept Medicaid clients.

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) is the insurance company that is most supportive of out-of-hospital births in Utah. I always give first birth spot preference to established clients and then to women with BCBS insurance.

Many insurances will cover a portion of maternity care if the care is provided by a Certified Nurse-Midwife. I am a preferred provider with BCBS, Cigna and Health Utah. Cigna has recently been covering more of the costs of the birth.

Insurances that I am not a provider with will only pay if you have out-of-network benefits. PEHP often covers maternity care under this category.

DMBA and IHC (Select Health, etc) WILL NOT cover the birth segment of your bill, which is the largest charge for maternity care, no matter what plan you have.

It is always a mystery what UHC might pay and Aetna often won’t tell you until after the birth. If you have Tri-Care call or e-mail me. They do cover care with a certified nurse midwife as long as you jump through the appropriate hoops.

For those with an April 2011 due date or later I have several pricing/insurance changes I will be instituting.

1). The $200 discount offered to those who are self pay or have insurance that doesn’t cover my services will be forfeited if your account is not paid in full by six weeks after your birth unless we’ve made special arrangements.

I have always checked benefits, filed insurance claims and followed up with insurance phone calls as a courtesy to my families. Unfortunately I will only be able to offer this service to those that are insured with plans I am a provider with: Blue Cross, Cigna and Health Utah.

This policy only applies for births. I will continue to bill for women’s health care visits for all insurances.

If you have Blue Cross, Cigna or Health Utah and you’d like us to contact your insurance company on your behalf , please give us a call at (801) 281-0567. If no one answers, please feel free to leave your insurance information on the voicemail – we’ll need your insurance company’s name, their phone number (generally listed on the back of your medical card), the policy subscriber’s name, birth date, and policy ID number, the mom-to-be’s name and birth date, as well as how to contact you. Please be patient in waiting for a response as phone calls to insurance companies will generally only be made when I have extra help in the office.

For those with other insurance plans:

My experiences with insurance companies that I am NOT a provider with has become increasingly frustrating, to say the least. My choices were either to hire office staff to deal with time consuming insurance matters and increase my fees OR have families deal with their own insurance companies while I continue to keep my price significantly lower than anyone else who attends out-of-hospital births.

As you can tell I elected the second choice. Maybe your insurance companies will be nicer to you because you’re their customer than they have been to me. I will be happy to provide you with the info you need to file your own claim and I will continue to give an invoice for tax purposes or health savings plans.

To contact your insurance company yourself, it is always helpful to take down the name of the person you speak with and the date. You’ll want to find out if they cover services provided by a certified nurse midwife, and if they cover a home birth (birthing in the Great Expectations birth suite is still considered a “home birth” because it is not a licensed birth suite). If you’re asked for a billing code we use “59400, location code #12.” Plans that will not cover a home birth will often still pay for the prenatal and postpartum care, which may offset the cost depending on your plan’s deductible and co-insurance, if any.